Long Over Due

Anna's Silly Face
Mary Mac's Silly Face

The best family picture we've taken in a while!

The Ultimate Crab Hunter! LOL!

I just to warn you that up front that this may be one VERY long post or many posts to catch up from our week long beach trip. I have to brag on myself and say that aside from having to check a few things that were work-related on my computer, I did not get on my computer not once the whole week. So needless to say, I am WAY behind on reading everyone's posts and on posting what all we did. We went to my parents beach house last Friday with myself and the girls and Gran in my car, Sam in his truck, and Pop in his truck. Why so many vehicles in this wonderful economy? Well, simply put, Sam was planning on coming home either Tuesday or Wednesday, I was coming home on Friday and my parents were staying until Sunday (I'm sure they needed a couple of days of quiet relaxing beach time sans kids- I know I would!). The weather was absoultely gorgeous! None of us could remember a time that we were at the beach in mid-June and not a single drop of rain fell on us. And, there was a wonderful breeze most days. That being said, and the fact that we were having so much fun lead to us talking Sam into staying the whole time with us - that is the nice thing about a family business! We did everything (and I mean EVERYTHING, on MM's agenda). We beached it (a lot), played tennis (me and MM), went to Baytown, ate out, cooked in, swam at the pool, went to Big Kahuna's, played the Wii, etc, etc, etc. You name it, we did it! This year was the first time we felt MM was big enough to go to Big Kahuna's and we made an afternoon of it (while Anna napped). She is definitely our little dare devil. She rode every slide she was allowed to. She would have done more if they had let her. As exhausting as it was, it was soooo worth it. Sam and I got to have some amazing one-on-one time with her which is rare these days! She cannot wait to go back (although it may be next year considering it cost almost as much as Disney). This was also the first summer that we actually could enjoy hours on the beach without someone having a meltdown, having to eat (bottles), naps (took them on the beach). We got smart this year though because instead of hauling our baby pool down to the beach, we rented one with our chairs - what a relief! We still had plenty to bring down, but that was a saviour! We had many picnics on the beach, found lots of shells, caught little fish, and just enjoyed it all! And it seems like Anna's vocabulary just exploded this week at the beach! It is amazing what all she knows and comprehends that we had no idea! Sorry for the lack of pictures from the beach - my camera battery was dead and then I ran out of memory on my card. BTW, can anyone use a SDHC card? I picked this up and did not realize it was an HC which my camera cannot use. It was $40 down the drain! Now, we are back in our regular routine and trying to "wean" the girls from being so spoiled having Pop, Gran, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny, and Pancake (Sam's sister, Kate).

Tennis Camp, Horseback Riding, and More

All I have to say is thank goodness we only have 2 kids right now and Anna is not even involved in activities yet! This week has been so chaotic and fun and busy and it's only the first week of summer (as far as our school schedule)! I signed MM up for a tennis camp at our club for 4-5 year olds. I don't know if I would really call it a "camp" per say, because it is only 3 days this week for 30 minutes. At first, I thought, "Wow, only 30 minutes?" But after the first day, I realized it was perfect for them - it is long enough that they get a "taste" of tennis, but just short enough that they don't lose focus and get bored and THAT leaves them wanting to come back for more! I don't think I have seen one child that has not liked it and wanted to keep playing this week! Then, because of the lovely southern warm days already amongst us, our horse trainer is trying to rearrange her schedule so that the kids do not scorch suring their lessons! So instead of an afternoon lesson, we had a morning lesson. It was still warm, but not dreadful. She did so great too - she was having a lesson with little girls that are little older and she was able to follow their lead and do exactly what they did. The only issue we had was that those girls trot a little faster than MM is used to and her pony was keeping up with the other ponies at the faster pace, but MM just held on and went right along.

So, now I am trying to get everything taken care of at work, get clothes washed, etc. because we are leaving Friday for a much anticipated trip to the beach. The girls are literally counting down the days until we leave! We will be there for a week, but we have to get back by next Friday because the Rodeo is back in Fayette and we CERTAINLY cannot miss that event! I just hope we have more funny stories from the rodeo this year.

I will be taking my computer to the beach so you may get some updates, but then again, who knows! I hope I get to spend most days on the beach or by the pool!

And for those of you who could not find my instructions for "putting up" fresh veggies or just need a refresher . . .ENJOY!

On a final (and very sad) note, please pray for some family friends of ours that lost a baby yesterday at 28 weeks. The dad has always been like a big brother to me and his wife just fits right in as well. Here's the brief story: this would have been their 4th child due in August; while at the beach with the family she didn't feel so great, called her doc, was told to go to the hospital to just get checked out; they got there and couldn't find the heartbeat; they are supposed to have her induced this morning. I just ask you prayer warriors to pray for comfort, healing, and anything else that you feel this precious family needs right now, including the right words to tell the other 3 children about their baby brother! My heart is just breaking for them right now.

Rainy Weekend Fun

This past weekend was another rainy weekend and when it was not actually raining, it looked like it would rain at any moment. So, you ask, what does the Collins Clan do on rainy days? Here you go. . .

1) Picked up my Organic Quarter Cow: I've been talking about doing this now for a year and I finally bit the bullet and made my purchase! I'll let you know my reviews! Check it out for yourself - it supports our local farmers and it's organic!

The 4 full boxes = 1/4 cow!

2) Made a trip to the local produce stand and here is my purchase(s): I love this time of year when you can get fresh, local, yummy fruits and veggies! Beans, peas, corn, onions, peanuts, etc.

3) Began my annual freezer stashes of fresh veggies. I do this gradually throughout the summer so as not to make it such a huge project and expense. This weekend I put about 6 quarts of peas up and another quart of beans and several ears of corn. This year I had a great "little helper" (Anna). I would have taken a picture of her but our hands were a mess and didn't want to risk leaving a 2 year alone with a table full of peas! She loves keeping things orderly and cleaned up so her job was to collect as many peas as she could in my measuring cup and then we would pour it into the bag. We only had a few peas to hit the floor, but once they are cooked, no one will ever know the difference (hopefully, haha!).

Drying the peas on the kitchen table

The finished product! Headed to join my cow in the freezer!!!

Work Work Work

Well, sorry for the lack of posts lately, but if you read my eariler post about our change of plans at work and if you have read my post of what we "do" at work then you can probably imagine what I have been doing the last couple of weeks. I am just now starting to feel like my brain is wrapped around what all I have to do before August 17. It has been pretty tough trying to manage my time with my new responsibilities and still keeping up with my previous duties - Sorry, mom, I've not been very good at it at all so far! I promise that I can do it and WILL do it! It will help when the girls start going to school full time on June 1. As much as I am sad about not being able to spend that extra time with them in the afternoons, I know that this is a sacrifice I have to make - that's what a family business is all about. I am so fortunate to have a wonderful dad that allows me to do all that we do and wants us to spend as much time with our family that we can! He and Sam work sooooo hard and I am forever grateful that they make this sacrifice for all of our families!

Anyway, other than work, we survived the 3 week stretch that Sam was out of town - Whew! I think the girls sensed my stress and they were so good and played so nicely together that whole week with very few fights - it was so nice - I pray everyday that they will be the best of friends one day and learn to love to be together. I have no idea what it is like since I do not have a sister so it's so hard to help them understand. They are so different, which I am so glad for, but their differences are what make them argue - all.the.time!!! I keep telling myself, "this too will pass!"

This week has been a big week for the girls too. First, MM had a great week at horseback riding and is loving it again - it is so wonderful to see her comfortable with the horses that she loves so much. I think she was really struggling internally (and therefore, it was being exhibited externally in other ways - pitching fits, being ugly to friends, etc.) with how to handle being a little afraid and hesitant of the animal (horses) that she loved so much and to learn to respect that they can be unpredictable. This week she finally loosened up and rode just like she was doing before her fall and I could see it written all over her face how proud she was of herself and that her confidence in herself had been restored! Praise God! I was struggling too - only I was struggling with how to help her through her own struggle! It was such a fine line of being too overbearing and making her ride every week and just letting her give it up, which in Sam's book was out of the question until she got over her fear! Also, the pool opened Thursday at the club and we had planned on going until the weather looked a little "ify" and Anna was diagnosed with Roseola. She was not contagious anymore, but I can just imagine the look on parent's faces as I let my little rash-infested child into the sess-pool baby pool! Oh, we would be the talk of the town! "Can you believe her? Exposing our children to whatever that little girl has?"

The last big thing is that the long-awaited playground at the school that backs up to our neighborhood finally opened this week!!!! YAY!!! It is also a community playground when school is not in session and it has been PACKED all week in the afternoons! You would think that there is not a playground anywhere in our town just by seeing the crowds out there. We have been so deprived - just kidding! These are pics of the girls on the playground - sorry for the quality - it was on my phone and it was about to rain.

So you like my signature? This is just a test to see if it looks ok and is right. I will probably tweek more later, but I'm exhausted and have been working on this for a while now!

Up To No Good

We have been enjoying our time together as a family the past couple of weeks. Sam has been out of town during the week for the past 3 weeks, so to say that I am exhausted is an understatement. I don't realize and probably don't appreciate how much he really helps out at home until he has a stretch of traveling such as the last several weeks. He has been to North Caroline on a business golf trip, then to Las Vegas for a show, and now he is working another show in Gatlinburg. He will be home Thursday and I'm not sure who is more excited - me, him, or the girls! With him being gone during the week, we have spent as much family time together on the weekends.

As for Mother's Day. . . woke up normal time, did our normal morning routine, took MM took horse back riding lesson (had to makeup for the rainy day), and then were going to have a picnic at the park to celebrate Mother's Day before Sam had to hit the road. Unfortunately, the weather did not hold out for the picnic - right after we decided to forego the park and just have a picnic at home, the bottom fell out! It was still fun and a great time with my family.

As for work. . .we've had a bit of a change of plans at work. Samantha (who has been with us since she was still in college) turned in her notice to go back to school this summer and fall. And you ask, what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that I get to take over most of her responsibilities in addition to what I already do! She has a HUGE job of getting all of "stuff" together and coordinate our biggest trade show of the year. While I am a little nervous having to take this on, I am comforted by the fact that I did this same job prior to her being hired - we have only quadrupled the size of the company since then!!! So wish me luck! The girls are having to start back to school full time in a couple of weeks though so that I can have the time I need to get it all done. I just hope that I am able to take some half days like I've been doing so that I can take the girls to the pool!

Sorry for the post overload, but as you can see we have been pretty busy around here and I wanted to make sure I documented it all for my own memory!

Fuller Festival

Nothing like pure blue sugar swirled onto a stick!

Here in T-town this past weekend, was a wonderful festival called Fuller Festival, in honor of a little boy (same age as MM) that was diagnosed with Leukemia 2 years ago. He is doing great now and so his parents wanted to host a festival that raise money for Children's Hospital in B'ham to show them how appreciative they were for everything that was done for them. It was a huge success and a great turnout. They had all the wonderful bouncy things, slides, carnival games, carousel, little "rides", music, food, etc. all day long. ALL of their friends, our friends, neighbors, etc. were out in full stride! It was total mass kid chaos, but they were having a ball! All you could see was children running around in sheer glee playing on all the fun stuff. The key for the parents was to kind of stay in the middle so you could just watch them from place to place. It was also exhausting! As you can tell by the pictures, Anna pretty much just stayed with us (eating junk) and MM was on and off every ride and activity with her friends - you think this is any prediction of how they will be when they are teenagers? The pirate ship ride was so funny. All the kids were really wanting to ride and as you can see on their faces they were not sure they really liked it once they were moving. Well, it finally stopped and they all got off and I asked, "So, that maybe wasn't your favorite ride, was it?" They all just screamed and shouted, "IT WAS SO FUN AND OUR FAVORITE!!!" Oh, sorry, I couldn't have been able to tell judging by the looks on your faces!

Spring is Here!

You see those cute little yellow specs? Ah yes, blooms!
My 3 plants that have grown so much!

And you ask, "why is she posting pictures of plants on her blog?" Well, quite simply, this is my sure sign that Spring really is here. These are my Hydrangea bushes that I had planted as a "trial". I have always loved Hydrangeas (guess I get that from my late grandmother), but always heard that they were very hard to grow and take care of. Well, for those of you that know me, know that I have a brown thumb but strive (and it's paying off) to be the avid gardener! So this is year 3 with my hydrangeas and I am obsessed with them - they have done so well so far and I cannot wait for the first blooms to erupt. As I said above, these were also my grandmothers favorite flowers to grow and enjoy, so I cannot wait for the first blooms to pop so that I can take them to her grave in honor or her life and legacy! Her gardending motto was that she rarely cut her flowers because she wanted to "share" them with the world and people around her. So, even though this is soooo against her motto, SHE will be the one I honor with these first blooms because I would not have formed my love for them without her.

Quick Beach Trip

MM claimed she was King of the Mountain!
Little Miss Priss - what are we going to do with her?

Picking flowers (not sure if this was ok or not, but we did anyway)

MM Showing off her flower

How can you not love that smiling free-spirited sweet girl?

After the brief visit in Mobile, we decided that since we were so close, why not just make a quick drive over to the condo for a couple of days. Mary Mac was so excited becuase that meant that we got to through a tunnel - the same tunnel that she

has previously SCREAMED going through in the past. I guess she really is growing up! The pictures are from a day that we spent at Destin Commons and let the girls play on the coolest playground in the world (according to Mary Mac). It has all these toys to climb on that are squishy and the ground is squishy (no other way to describe it)and then there is a water pad fountain to play in. The girls had a ball, no doubt! It was a quick trip, but we were able to do just about everything on the girls list of favorites. . . go to Baytown, play on the coolest playground, swim, look for shells, go to the "shark store" (that would be Bass Pro Shops), shop, and just hang out!

Art Show 2009

Last week was also the Annual Art Show at school. I've talked about it before, but it is really amazing how they do this and it makes you realize how much your child has improved and learned throughout the year. They collect tons of art projects that they work on all year and fill the Family Life Center walls (literally every inch of every wall is covered in art). The teachers make a mad dash to "reserve" how much space they need for their class once the director gives them the go-ahead. I have taken pictures each year of every single piece of artwork from the girls, but I will save you from that misery and just post these pictures.

60 Years!

Last weekend my mom and I took the girls down to Mobile for a quick trip to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more AND (more importantly) to celebrate my grandparents 60th, yes you read that right, wedding anniversary. We had the best time and my aunt and uncles put a lot of hard work into making this party so perfect. They invited family and friends from all over and put together a slide show of old (and I mean old photos) and a video of their 50th anniversary party. It was bitter sweet watching this because it brought back so many wonderful memories of growing up and seeing how much has changed in just 10 years. In the video my grandparents (mainly my Mimi) was up and cutting a rug to the music and now she is not able to do that anymore. 10 years ago, I was single, in college, and only dreaming of the life that I have now - a wonderful husband and 2 very special healthy girls! It is amazing how in one quick vidoe clip you realize how quick those 10 years went by and it makes me cringe to think that another 10 years will go by just as fast and I can do nothing to make it slow down. I say this all the time, but I just wish I could scoop up the girls and squeeze them so tight just to try and see if it will slow the time I have with them at this age slow, even for just a second! Being able to celebrate 60 years of marriage is so rare these days and I pray that Sam and I have my grandparents "little secret", whatever that may be, to carry us through at least that many years together! The Happy Couple

Mimi and Papa and all the grandkids (minus Tyler) and great grandkids

Keeping Up

I don't if I've even mentioned this on my blog, but have all you fellow bloggers discovered Google Reader yet? It is so easy and so nice. I know many of you are probably still trying to keep up with all of your favorite blogs by going to your blog, then clicking on each of your "friends" and then back to yours then on to the next one, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, on Google Reader, you just add each of your "friends" blog address to your subscription (it's all FREE btw). Each day, you just log in to Google Reader and it updates each blog that has had a post added since you're last session. You can scan through all of your friends very quickly. The only thing you can't do (or at least I haven't figured it out yet) is to comment directly from the Reader site. You have to click on the blog post you want to comment on and it takes you directly to the post. So, all in all, this does save lots of time and it allows you to keep up with all of your blogger friends on a daily basis.

AHHHH, Sweet Southern Days

As I type I am sitting in my swimsuit on a quilt that my great-grandmother made in my backyard soaking in every ray of glorious sunshine that I can! No joke! Thank goodness our backyard is not visible to anyone. I can tell it has been a really long time since I've actually been able to sit and do nothing in the sun because I'm feeling a little guilty and antsy that I should be doing something around the house. But, you know what? It can all wait while I take a few minutes to myself! Anna is napping and MM is playing quietly in the playroom. I can vivdly remember doing this for hours and days at a time back in college. Man, why did I ever quit doing that? Oh yea, that's right, mom and dad wouldn't pay for it anymore, I met the man of my dreams, have a beautiful family that I always dreamed of, and am living a wonderful life!!!!! Perfectly great reasons! Although, I could get used to doing a little more of this now that the girls are getting older. I found myself at the country club pool last summer being so jealous watching those moms whose kids were older and could manage themselves at the pool while they just relax in the sun reading a book, all the while I am chasing my 2 young ones around the baby pool trying to keep them from falling in or just falling in general. Gosh, I didn't realize how quickly we would be getting to that place.

On another note, we have big news . . .no we're not pregnant! ANNA TEE-TEE'D ON THE POTTY LAST NIGHT!!! She is just barely 2 and much further along in the potty training area than MM. We all made a HUGE deal of it. MM said the sweetest thing to her. She said, "Anna, I can't believe you are getting to be such a big girl and tee-tee'd on the potty!" It was in the sweetest little angel voice she could muster. I soak up moments like these because lately all I hear between the 2 of them is fussing and arguing! Well, that's all from this part of the world. Hope everyone else is able to take a little time to themselves and enjoy the nice weather that it seems we are all getting right now. Before we can even blink, we will all be complaining about how hot and humid it is!

Totally Tuesday Randomness

Sorry Susie, but I had to do it. . .a little girl's mother in Anna's class brought this to me at preschool drop-off the other day. Wow, I don't think we've changed one bit - yea right!!!! Well I can always "think" that, right? That was actually the cover of the the national AXO magazine when we were Freshmen (Summer, 1997 - ouch, that was more than 10 years ago).

And these are my favorite most recent purchase! No, I am not auditioning for the sequel to Gladiator! I have been eyeing several pairs of these awesome gladiator flat sandals and I finally found a pair yesterday that I just couldn't live without (and that did not require a loan). I actually got these on sale for $20! They were originally $74.99, on sale for $49.99, and then that price was reduced - what a bargain???!!! Well, at least in my book that is a bargain! I think that these will probably be my "go-to" shoes for the summer and you will probably see them a lot in future pictures posted!

Wow Me?

Ok, so since I was awarded this by 2 fellow blogger friends, April and Kellie, I guess I will take a little credit for our Blog. I love (oops, that will be one of my loves below) blogging and documenting our trials and triumphs in our family, so thanks for the award girls!

This is what you do to share the award:
1. Post the award on your blog, and link to the person who gave you the award.
2. List seven things you love.
3. List seven blogs you love.
4. E-mail or comment on those blogs to let the people know you've given them the award.

So my 7 loves are:

1) My faith

2) My husband - could not have dreamed anyone better for me

3) My kids - cannot imagine life without them and who make me a better person

4) Our family - whom we do EVERYTHING with

5) Blogging, of course

6) Enjoying the world around us and watching my children explore it

7) Anything water related - beach, lake, pool, etc.

8) FOOD - yes, I am a foody - love shopping for it, preparing it, cooking it, EATING IT, talking about it

7 Blogs I Love:

1) Jamie

2) Molli (mainly b/c they live so far away that this is one of the ways we keep up)

3) Heidi

4) Lindsey

5) Susie

6) Rachel

7) Sarah

Ok, I know some of you have already received this award, but you are still ones I love to read and therefore I wanted to acknowledge that!

A-Day 2009

This past weekend was A-Day here in T-Town and the excitement is already building for the upcoming season! This year they held the First Annual Alumni 7 on 7 Flag Football game and Sam decided to play! He had a lot of fun and it was great to see several of the guys that he played with and some that I cheered for back in the day! And, no, I did not make my come back in uniform!!!! Not a chance!!! The link below (you may have to copy and paste it into you browser b/c I can't get the "&" sign to be part of the link) are pictures from the day. If you click on the 7 on 7 gallery, you will find a great picture of Sam on one of his catches in the game(it's the 10th image in the gallery). He should have scored twice, but was robbed! But, his team (the white team, and definitely the "underdogs" on paper) won! Sam was able to show off that he was actually still in pretty good shape (unlike many others) and still has his skills and speed!

These are also some pictures of the girls at the game. They really don't "get" that they are very privileged to get to go on the field to watch, but they preferred sitting with Nanny, Pop, and cousins (the triplets were here for Spring Break) in the stands. Oh well, maybe one day!

http://www.rolltide.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=alab&sport=m-footbl&

Waiting outside the locker room while Daddy changed clothes - this is the same place I used to stand to wait on him when he played

You can tell they are really excited to be there! Anna just kept saying, "Too Loud, Mommy"

Player Introductions

On the line of scrimmage - I think I have several similar pictures of this, only he was in uniform!

Clarification for Sam's Sake

Sam wants everyone to know that our yard nornally looks much better than it does in the pictures of the trampoline! We had a few holes in our grass so he filled them with sand to help the grass grow - so, no, those brown spots are NOT DEAD, it is just sand. Our yard looking perfect is his a thorn in his side, so I just wanted to make sure I made that clarification!

Anyone Seen The Trampoline?

After such a beautiful day yesterday, we had some really fierce weather last night that kept Sam and I both awake for several hours. I kept thinking that any minute a tree or limb was coming through a window! It was worse than the winds that have come through with the hurricanes in the last few years. I kept getting up and checking everything out making sure everything was intact. So, I get up this morning to Sam texting me (he gets up WAY earlier than I do to workout - yes, he has much more motivation than I do) asking me "Who decided to move the trampoline?" Not knowing what he was talking about I go to look out the back porch and this is what I find. . .

Yes, that round, kind of dead looking spot is where our trampoline has always resided. Take notice of the fence (untouched), the tiki torch (still standing), the furniture (in place), the plant on the table (in place). . .
And this is where we found it!!!!!! You think our neighbors will be excited that we decided to "share" our trampoline with them? Surely they won't mind! I cannot believe this!!! It's like the trampoline fairy just picked it right up and dropped it on the other side of the fence! And all in one piece and the fence in one piece too! I can attest to how dad-gum heavy that thing is too because I helped put it together (what little I could do). The only damage to it or the fence is one of the net rails is bent and the top of one board in the fence is broken! How in the world!!!!????? Wow, I knew it was strong winds, and suspected that we may lose the net, but never imagined this! I'm just glad it didn't get carried into any of our neighbors houses! NOW, the question is, "How the heck are we gonna get that back inside the fence????"

Also, on another totally different point, I forgot to update everyone on the horse back riding!

After her 2 falls on the previous Friday, we took MMC back to her lesson on Wednesday and she was eager to get back on Jimmy. We let her kind of do what she wanted on him and let her trot around and walk around and go over the ground poles and just take it easy to help build her confidence back up. She was so proud of herself (and so was her Mom and Dad and Carly) and just beamed the rest of the afternoon! So, I guess, she truly is going to be a horse rider and she proved to us just how stubborn tough as nails she really is! She was a little hestitant and nervous, but who wouldn't be! The first thing she told Sam was, "Daddy, I rode Jimmy today and I didn't fall off!" Awe, how cute!!!!

Easter Weekend

Here are a few pictures from this past Easter weekend. Friday night we had a little impromptu pizza and ice cream picnic on our porch while we played outside. As you can see by the silly faces (which were probably brought on by the sugar high), the girls thought this was fantastic! They were being silly all weekend and we had a hard time getting a really good picture, but I think these show their cute little personalities perfectly! Instead of doing a big lunch at the country club like we normally do on Easter, we decided this year that if the weather was nice then we would do lunch at the lake and ride on the boat. The weather held off just long enough for us to take a nice ride around the lake and enjoy the truly Glorious Day that our Lord and Saviour made! Both of the girls got the chance to "drive" the boat too! We had a great weekend and are so blessed to have such wonderful little girls that brighten each and every day AND to have such a great family that we get to spend so much time with!

Easter, Easter, Everywhere

Just like everyone else, we are in Easter mode FULL FORCE in our house this week. The week started off on Tuesday by celebrating my mom's birthday (a couple days late). I decided that she and I needed some quality mother-daughter time (without kids or husbands) and it has been a REALLY long time since we have done this. So I told her to clear her calendar for Tuesday night and surprised her by taking her to My Monet and then to dinner at DePalma's (Dad and Sam met us there). For those of you who don't know what My Monet is, it is similar to Sips and Strokes. You show up, pay $35 and they "teach" you how to paint your own masterpiece. Each class is a different painting and everyone does the same painting. It's amazing how different each person's can be. We had been talking about doing this together for some time, so I thought, what would be better than to do this for her birthday. We had a ball and we both did pretty well on our paintings - the picture of the eggs is the one I painted.

Anna's class had their party and Easter Egg Hunt Thursday and she had a ball! I'm not sure she really "got" it, but oh well! She was terrified of the Easter Bunny too! She kept telling us last night, "Anna not yike bunny rapit!"

Today is MMC's party and hunt. We signed up to make cookies for the lunch, so yesterday while Anna napped, we made cookies. After Anna woke up (and after threatening MMC to be patient until Anna woke up), we dyed our Easter Eggs! I only boiled about a dozen (plus a couple extra, just in case) this year and that was plenty! MMC was the only one that got to help last year since Anna was still a baby, but this year they both helped! Anna was not about to get left out of that much fun! So after getting everything ready and together, and getting the girls clothes covered in smocks, the first round of eggs went into the color. Next year I think I will try and plan some activities around the time it takes to dye the eggs because trying to keep their little fingers (especially Anna's) out of the bowl while we "waited" on them to dye was a huge challenge. MMC had a meltdown (one of many these days) because she got the dye on her fingers and it wouldn't come off by just wiping it. Whew - thank goodness we only dyed a dozen. They are not the prettiest of eggs (despite me wanted to make the Martha Stewart-ish), but the girls thought they were the best. Anna did not quite understand that we couldn't THROW the eggs into the dye - she cracked one doing this - again, oh well, it's all about the experience and the memories, right? Now only if I can keep the girls from getting them out of the frig until the Easter Bunny comes.

On a more serious and more meaningful story, I have been reading MMC the story of Easter out of her Bible and they have been discussing it at school, too. So the other day, she asks if she can color on my little chalk board man in the kitchen. I was not really paying attention until I looked up and saw that she had drawn what looked like a cross to me. I said, "Mary Mac, what is that you're drawing?" And she looked at me dumbfounded (like, duh?) and said, "It's a cross, Mom!" Ok, I thought, WOW, she really is starting to retain some of her Bible Stories - yea! I get busy again and come back to see the picture (above). Again I asked her what that was and she said, "Well, mom, that is the cross that Jesus was nailed to and that is Jesus on the Cross!" WOW!!!! How cool that not only is she retaining the stories, but she is able to tell the story in her own words and images! She is totally our artistic child and has such an imagination and ability in her art. Oh, and by the way, she said she drew the hair on Jesus crazy like that because He has long hair and he was sad! I have never been artistic (or didn't think so at least) - I pray that I can nuture her artistic spirit in a way that will always feed that side of her! May the Spirit be within you all as we celebrate the true meaning of Easter this weekend!